Theme: Unlocking Euglena potential through integrative omics

Venue: This is a virtual meeting to be hosted from the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Hinxton near Cambridge, UK. A trip to EMBL-EBI may be possible if COVID-19 lockdown is lifted as well as compliance with social distancing guidelines in November, 2020. Only 16 slots available for onsite participations, and unlimited slots for virtual participations.
Date: 9th – 10th November, 2020 (day 1 and day 2)
Time: 15:00 – 18:00 (GMT) each day

Meeting records: Find meeting record here.

Co-Chairs: Mark Field, Anna Karnkowska, Neil Hall
Organisers: ThankGod Ebenezer, Ellis O’Neill, Ross Low, Wade Huang | Contact us to register your interest for virtual participation | click to register for onsite participation.

Grand Challenges: Basic Biology, Translation and Exploitation, Evolution, Ecology and Environment | click to nominate Euglenid species for genome sequencing.

Click to submit Abstract for 5 mins Flash Presentation at the EIN inaugural meeting. Click to view EIN inaugural meeting program booklet.

Summary of expected dialogue: Anti-cancer properties, renewable jet and diesel fuels, food and nutraceuticals, human space explorations, ecology and environment, taxonomy, nuclear genome, carbohydrate metabolism, organellar genomes, Sanger ToL.

EIN inaugural meeting agenda | Number of confirmed participants: 85+

*Specific discussion of Euglena grand challenges (working groups). Questions, goals, objectives, milestones, and fundings.

**General discussion points during EIN kickoff meeting

• Sequence select Euglenoid species. 
  • Where do we start from? Should we focus on the genus level or attempt to focus on the class / order levels so as to have representative species from each class / order? Should we rank species to sequence? Phototrophic, heterotrophic taxa, or both? Given the complexity of the Euglena genome, should we begin sequencing based on controlled laboratory conditions or using environmental samples?
  • Technology development; transfection.
  • ‘Omics resources – good quality annotation. Enthusiasm, etc. RNA-Seq and the proteome datasets. Who wants this? Should we make these available? 
  • What are the questions? Basic biology, evolutionary states? Biofuel and metabolism? What do we need in order to do anything here? These are what becomes fundable.
  • Agree on funding mechanisms to deliver on the goals. Who are the potential funders?
• Who are our potential partners, and what should be a proposed partnership model?
• Who will take various thematic areas up? Who are the investigators responsible to meet these goals? Including grant writing, submission, and execution of research proposals?
• Provide a networking platform for the Euglena global community through international conferences
• Advance the global knowledge on Euglena science through knowledge exchange programmes.
• Achieve the above goals in collaboration and partnership with other initiatives e.g. Darwin Tree of Life (DToL) and the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP)

Goals

1. Sequence select Euglenoid species to better understand their diversity and unlock their biotechnological potential.
2. Provide a networking platform for the Euglena global community through the organisation of Euglena international conferences
3. Advance the global knowledge on Euglena science through knowledge exchange programmes with the industry.
4. Achieve the above goals in collaboration and partnership with other initiatives e.g. Darwin Tree of Life (DToL) and the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP)

Concept note

Background

The Euglenoids were first identified by Antony van Leeuwenhoek in 1674 (Dobell, 1932). Since its identification, efforts have been underway to understand it’s biology and translational applications using genomic and non-genomic approaches. In the 1960s and 1980s and 1990s early works in Euglena were sufficiently documented (Buetow, 1968, 1968a, 1968b, 1982, 1989, Triemer and Farmer 1991). Over the last two decades there have been a growing list of communities within the Euglena science aiming to uncover several aspects of the biology of Euglena as well as its biotechnological applications (for instance, Linton et al. 2007, O’Neill, et al., 2015, Dobakova, et al., 2015, Yoshida, et al., 2016, eds Schwartzbach and Shigeoka, 2017, Ebenezer, et al., 2019). As the Euglena global community continues to grow, so is the need to bring the Euglena community together to better understand Euglena biology and harness it’s biotechnological potential. 

Aims and objectives

The Euglena International Network (EIN) aims to galvanise the Euglena global community and provide a collaborative interface. EIN’s approach will be via the following stages: Assemble, identify, engage, implement, and update advances in Euglena science. EIN is currently aiming for a one-day inauguration event, which is the first phase; this event will help to assemble, identify, and engage with the Euglena global scientific community. The second phase, which will consist of the implementation and update stages, are expected to be fall-outs from the inauguration event. Therefore, the aims and objectives of EIN are to:

• Assemble, for the first time, international investigators working on Euglena. Create a collaborative platform for researchers, academics, and industry professionals working on Euglena globally, and introduce EIN to the international scientific community.
• Identify and form a committee who will be tasked with providing Consortium partnership models and deliverables. Drive the formation of the Euglena Genome Consortium (EGC) to sequence select Euglenoid species in collaboration with other projects such as the Earth BioGenome Project, Wellcome Sanger Tree of Life Project, UK Darwin Tree of Life, etc. Facilitate a ranked list of species, designate sequencing priorities, and ensure provision of complete reference Euglena sequenced genomes. 
• Engage the conversation for knowledge exchange between industry professionals (food, environment, energy and health) and academics working on Euglena globally. Identify and form committees who will be tasked with providing knowledge exchange and industry partnership models and scientific deliverables. This will lead us to the Implementation stage.
• Engage the conversation for annual or biennial Euglena conferences. Identify and form committees who will be tasked with organising the Euglena Conference. This will lead us to the Update stage.
• Implement recommendations and outcomes from the EIN inauguration event; one of which will be the formation of EGC (please see above).
• Update Euglena scientific community on advances in Euglena science through the organisation and hosting of conferences and knowledge exchange programmes with the industry (please see above).

Questions

Currently, we’ve grouped the activities of the EIN into three categories with their corresponding questions:

Euglenoid Genome Project

• What are the genomic structures within, and across, all Euglena species? What do we know about the genome diversity amongst Euglenoids? What are their genome sizes and variabilities and how does this correlates with biological complexity?
• What are the biological functions of these genomic structures, diversity, as well as the full genic and nongenic compliments?
• How do Euglena genomes compare with other eukaryotes, and what does this tell us about the evolution of eukaryotes, evolution of parasitism, and secondary endosymbiosis involving the cyanobacteria and proteobacteria? What can this tell us about the evolution of plastid and mitochondria genomes in Euglena and how can this be inferred to other eukaryotes?
• What are the influence of ecological factors within, and across, Euglena biological molecules?
• How can we harness and unlock the potential of Euglena science in translational efforts? What role can this play in genetic engineering and synthetic biology? 

Euglenoid International Conference

• Where are other Euglena investigators around the world? What are their research interests? How do we continuously bring this community together once in a year or every other year?
• What is the current understanding of the global Euglena science?
• How can the Euglena community help to train the next generation of Euglena investigators, researchers, and professionals?

Knowledge Exchange and Industry

• How do we deepen the global scientific understanding in the application of Euglena in solving some of the world’s problems in food security, environmental management, bioenergy, and drug discovery such as in anti-carcinogens, anti-parasitics, or ecological clean ups?
• How can the industry, academia, and research institutes work together to better unlock the biological potential of Euglena? 
• How can Euglena science help drive government policy framework through private-public partnerships? What role can EIN play in helping to make this happen?

Affiliations of current EIN members

Interactive map showing geographical and institutional institutional affiliations of current EIN members.

We have received direct support from the below organisations:

• EMBL-EBI – free venue and video conferencing onsite facility.
• FAU (Michael Lebert) – sponsorship for zoom subscriptions to accommodate at least 100 participants if onsite participation is not possible in November 2020.